The Elders quickly led the disciples out of the arena. Mira walked with Dominique on her back, but most people didn't even notice this part. Almost every disciple and even a few Elders just couldn't stop staring at Mira, she was like a walking work of art. Mira stared at all of them.
"Do you need something?" Mira said coldly. The disciples just turned their heads like they weren't looking at her and everybody kept following the Elders, but they couldn't help glancing at Mira every so often.
It didn't take them long to make it to the actual Sect, but the new disciples soon realized that the Sect itself is massive! It could almost be called a city by itself! There were too many buildings to count and none of the new disciples could tell what each building was for. The Elders didn't stop and just continued to lead them to what looked like a large hall. Once they entered the hall, they could see that it was just a large building with a stand at the front that stood around 4 meters tall. The disciples stopped in the middle of the building while the Elders continued up to the front. Once they made it to the front, an older woman with some wrinkles and long, aged, white hair stepped up and began to speak to them.
"Congratulations new disciples on passing the Entrance Exam into the Battle Maiden Sect! You can call me Sect Master Jane. As per my title, I'm the master of this Sect and am here just to welcome you into the Sect. You probably won't see me that often as I am usually dealing with important sect matters or maybe other things that require my personal attention. So, if you ever need anything then it would be better for you to look for an Elder. I normally wouldn't come to greet new disciples, but I went to go check on what went on in the arena and decided to say hi in passing. I will leave the rest of this to the Elders here as I have other matters to attend to. Congratulations again and I hope the Battle Maiden Sect is right for you." The Sect Master said politely and promptly then left the building. An Elder then stepped up.
"It truly is rare for you to see the Sect Master. She seldom comes out to see disciples and I've never seen her greet new disciples before. Now, onto what you are doing here. Right now, we will distribute the rewards and show you to your living quarters. We will let you rest after that and start showing you around the Sect tomorrow. We will also go into more details about what we want from you now that you are part of the Battle Maiden Sect along with what we have to offer. For now, I want the Top 3 from each group along with Mira and Maria to come up so we can distribute the rewards." Said the middle-aged lady that took care of all of the tests and did the announcing for the tournament.
Sia, Celaine, Nisha, Audra, Anna, Hazel, Maria, and Mira all started to make their way up to the front. Dominique still can't seem to move or think on her own yet as she is still in shock from what happened. Mira was already at the back, so she just set her down in a corner and started to make her way up to the front. As soon as the Elders saw Mira, they immediately paused and became mesmerized in her beauty. Mira just ignored them and continued walking forward until she stood next to Maria. All 8 of them were now lined up in front of the Elders. Nobody could take their eyes off of Mira as Nisha, Audra, and Celaine were now able to get a good look at Mira and also couldn't stop staring.
"If you keep staring at me like that then I will gouge out your eyes so you'll never be able to stare at me again," Mira said as she looked into everyone's eyes. They all awoke from their stupor.
"Ahem… Who are you?" Elder Kendra asked. She felt like this person seemed familiar, but she's absolutely sure she's never seen someone this beautiful before.
"Mira." There was a pause after she said this.
"You're Mira? The one that beat Maria using only your legs in the final match? That Mira?"
"The one and only, unfortunately."
"Well, you are wearing the same robe from before and have the same icy silver hair. You also sound the same as her. I guess I never expected you to look like this underneath that mask."
"That's the point of a mask."
Usually, a disciple would be punished or scolded for saying something like that, but Elder Kendra was still reeling from the shock from Mira's beauty.
"Ahem… Let's move onto the rewards. We will start with the women who placed third." Elder Kendra said as she took out two boxes that seemed to release quite a bit of Qi.
"We have decided to give you 100 Spirit Stones each." Elder Kendra then proceeded to hand Anna and Hazel the boxes full of Spirit Stones. They received them with large smiles on their faces.
"For you two who placed Second, we have decided to give you a Perfect Rank 2 Bone Tempering Pill and 100 Spirit Stones each." Elder Kendra said as she took out 4 boxes, two held the pill and the other two had the Spirit Stones. She handed each of these to Celaine and Sia.
"As for First Place, we have decided to give you the rewards that second place got along with a Late-Stage Mortal Grade Weapon of your choosing. I will take you to the treasury tomorrow for you to choose your weapon." Elder Kendra said as she gave Nisha and Audra the same thing as what Second Place got, but they were extremely excited to be able to receive a weapon from the Sect.
"For Maria, we decided to give you 200 Spirit Stones and a Peak-Stage Mortal Grade Weapon." Elder Kendra said and handed Maria a box containing 200 Spirit Stones. She received it gratefully. She wasn't as excited as the rest of the people here because 200 Spirit Stones for her right now will only last her a few months.
"As for Mira, we weren't sure what to give you. We overheard you saying you use a scythe and we don't have any scythes here. We thought about just giving you more Spirit Stones than the others, but we decided not to give you any of this. We talked it over a bit with the Sect Master and we actually have a proposition for you. So come see us after we lead you to your living quarters." Elder Kendra said with a hint of excitement. Mira also noticed this as well and started to wonder what the offer is. This also surprised the rest of the disciples as well. An offer? What will she get and what will she have to do?
"Now that the rewards have been handed out. I will now go over the different types of disciples. There are 3 types of disciples. Outer, Inner, and Core. Outer disciples are typically weaker, don't receive as many benefits, and can only participate in certain events that we have here. They also live in a place that doesn't have as much atmospheric Qi compared to the Inner and Core Disciple Residences. An Inner Disciple has more privileges compared to an Outer Disciple. They also live in a better Residence that has more Qi in the air compared to an Outer Disciple. A Core Disciple has all of the privileges the Sect has to offer and lives in the best Quarters. There are also a few more benefits that Core Disciples get, but I won't go into those right now. We, Elders, have already chosen what type of Disciple all of you will be. Anyone who lost in the first round of the tournament will start off as an Outer Disciple. Those of you who won a match but didn't make it into the Top 3 will be Inner Disciples. While those who made it in the Top 3 will be Core Disciples, this also includes Mira and Maria." Elder Kendra explained as most people didn't seem to have a problem with this.
"There are ways for an Outer Disciple to become an Inner Disciple and for an Inner Disciple to become a Core Disciple. This also means that a Core Disciple can drop to Inner Disciple and an Inner Disciple can drop to Outer Disciple. We will go into this more tomorrow. Now that this is over, we will now lead you to your residences. Outer Disciples, please follow Elder Leia here. Inner Disciples, follow Elder Lyra. Core Disciples follow me!" Elder Kendra said as the new Disciples split up into 3 groups and started to follow the Elders. Mira went to go pick up Dominique and followed Elder Kendra. The Elder wanted to question Mira but decided to leave it for later. They needed to talk anyways. She led the 8 of them towards the living quarters for Core Disciples and they could all feel the Qi in the air becoming denser and more abundant. Once they reached their living quarter, the Qi in the air was around 3 times denser than it is outside of the Sect. Elder Kendra then stopped and turned around to face the 8 of them.
"You will be partnered up. So Anna and Hazel will share a room. Celaine and Sia will share a room. Nisha and Audra will share a room. And Mira and Maria will share a room." Elder Kendra said as she pointed to the rooms that each group will be staying in. The Elder then nodded towards them and the 8 of them went towards their room. Mira and Maria went towards theirs and when they opened the door, they were able to see an extremely large room. It couldn't even be called a room at this point and was more like a house! They found a staircase that led to what seemed to be a basement. There were also 2 separate rooms for each person and a smaller room that seemed to be a place for research or practicing. At the back of this large 'room', there was what seemed to be a training area. This training area alone seemed to be around 50 meters long and 50 meters wide. The whole room that they were given as Core Disciples must be at least 100 meters long and 50 meters wide and this didn't even include the basement that was a little smaller than this size. How could anyone possibly call this a room? This is a fucking house! The two of them were then interrupted by Elder Kendra entering the room.
"Let's talk, Mira." She said as she sat down. Mira nodded and put Dominique in a different room and sat in front of the Elder.
"So our offer is for you to help train our disciples along with sparring with them a few times a week. We also want to make it worth your while for doing something like this. We're giving you complete access to one of our cultivation caves. Let me explain what a cultivation cave is. So you can probably feel how Qi here is more abundant and denser than it is outside the Sect, well a cultivation cave is the same thing. Only the amount of Qi in the cave is around times denser and more abundant than it is here. So around 15 times denser than it is outside of the Sect. You can probably imagine the benefits of using one of these. The only downside is if you cultivate too fast then you will have to spend a longer amount of time consolidating your foundation. But I think the Benefits outweigh this downside. What do you think?" Elder Kendra explained and Mira thought about this carefully. After a moment of thinking, she finally spoke.
"Hmmm, this is certainly an interesting deal. I'm assuming that you want me to treat these disciples like how I treated Audra during the tournament. Trying to temper the minds of your disciples a bit… I see. It seems a lot of disciples here haven't experienced the true horror of the cultivation world yet and that's where I come in. To bring them back to reality. But aren't you essentially making me the most hated figure in the whole Sect? Also what kind of sparring and training do you want me to do? You also know that I will bring them to the brink of death every time they see me right? Also if you want me to teach them about unarmed combat, then just that cultivation cave is not enough to cover the cost of that. They'd be learning from quite possibly the most skilled and knowledgeable person in unarmed combat in the entire world. I will tell you now that unless you can provide me a constant supply of Spirit Stones, Magical Beast Corpses, Body Tempering items, and find me a strong Ice Elemental Essence then I won't be teaching anyone unarmed combat. However, if you only want me to show them a few basic moves then I think I could accept with only 50-100 Spirit Stones per month on top of the Cultivation Cave. It depends on how much effort and work I have to put into training them. If you don't need this and are fine with me just sparring with them while being myself, then I'll only ask for something extra on top of the Cultivation Cave. I just want everything you have on Winged-Wolves and Ancient Magical Beasts like Dragons and Phoenixes. That's my offer." Mira countered as Elder Kendra started to think about this seriously. They don't need her to teach them unarmed combat since they can't confirm or deny how skilled she is at it. They only know that she is incredibly talented in this area. But also learning unarmed combat might be good for the girls here. They are all gorgeous women that most would either look towards them in envy or with lust. Battle Maiden Sect Disciples getting raped outside of the Sect isn't that uncommon either. She was a bit curious about wanting to know everything about winged wolves and ancient beasts but thought nothing of it and this wasn't that big of a deal.
"Alright. I'll accept your offer. Please teach our disciples the basics of unarmed combat or at the very least what to do if they ever find themselves being taken advantage of by a man. We'll provide you with 50 Spirit Stones per month, all of our information on Winged-Wolves along with Ancient Magical Beasts, and the Cultivation Cave." Elder Kendra agreed to Mira's offer.
"Deal." They shook hands and Elder Kendra stood up to leave.
"Is there anything else you need?" She asked and Mira actually nodded.
"Yes. We have left our beast companions at an inn. Can we go retrieve them and bring them back here to stay?" Mira asked.
"Of course, a lot of our Disciples actually have beast companions as well. Though the Sect is actually surrounded by a formation and only those with a token can enter. We were going to hand these out tomorrow, but I have yours with me right now. This will allow you to enter and exit the Sect without any trouble." Elder Kendra said as she took out two tokens that had the Battle Maiden Sect Emblem on them and flicked them towards Mira and Maria.
"We can discuss the details of our deal after tomorrow. For now, just get your beast companions and have a good rest." The Elder said before she left.
Mira looked at Maria and they both nodded. They immediately left to get Rhydian and Vulcan from the Inn as well as say goodbye to Luke.
It didn't take them long to reach the inn as they were able to leave the Sect without any issues. They were both relieved the room wasn't destroyed while they were gone, but Vulcan didn't seem to be in the best condition. Rhydian seemed to enjoy treating Vulcan like a toy because when they walked in the room, they saw Rhydian just gnaw slapping Vulcan across the room and then catching him in her mouth as he is mid-flight. There is also nothing Vulcan can do. Rhydian is just too strong.
Rhydian sensed Mira enter the room and dropped Vulcan and immediately rushed towards her, but stopped right before reaching her then jumped into her arms. It seems that she at least learned that Mira doesn't like being body slammed every time they see each other. Vulcan also rushed into Maria's arms and cried tears of happiness and instantly fell asleep in her arms.
The two of them went to Luke's room to say goodbye and inform him that he could go back to the Zaria Family without them. He just nodded his head and said goodbye. The 4 of them then rushed back to the Sect so they could finally get some rest. But when they got back to their room it seemed Dominique was finally waking up.
